Harlequin Historical September 2014 - Bundle 2 of 2: Lord Havelock's ListSaved by the Viking WarriorThe Pirate Hunter

by Annie Burrows

  Will took a deep breath and calmed himself. ‘So you think she’s worthless, but that still doesn’t explain why you attacked her.’

  ‘I saw the way you look at her, like a man bewitched. It was obvious to everyone on this ship what you’d been doing on your little trip to the other side of Tortola.’

  Will had hoped no one had noticed their slightly dishevelled appearance, but it seemed he had been a little naive.

  ‘Every time you even glanced at her you smiled. It was sickening.’

  An awful realisation began to dawn on Will and he stood suddenly. He leaned forward, hands grabbing the bars of the cell.

  ‘You did it to hurt me?’ he asked.

  Lieutenant Glass laughed, lounging back out of Will’s reach against the far side of the cell.

  ‘You attacked Mia to hurt me?’

  ‘Not just to hurt you,’ Glass said, ‘but that certainly was a big incentive.’

  Will thought about every comment he’d made to the Lieutenant, every time he’d excluded him from their plans. He felt sick at the idea Glass had picked Mia as his weakness. He had wanted to get his revenge for being sidelined on this mission and had struck out at Mia.

  Will realised it had worked. Nothing Glass could have done to him would have been worse than attacking Mia. At least he could have defended himself against a physical attack.

  ‘You said not just to hurt me,’ Will repeated. ‘Why else?’

  Glass shrugged, ‘She might be a pirate whore, but she’s an attractive pirate whore.’

  Will pictured Glass’ hands roaming over Mia’s body as she struggled beneath him. All night he had been trying to contain his imagination—he didn’t want to even contemplate what would have happened if Mia hadn’t screamed. The idea of Glass raping her was Will’s worst nightmare.

  ‘You’re a sick man,’ he said, taking a step away from the cell.

  ‘She’d given herself up to you. I’m sure she would have enjoyed it once I’d got started.’

  Will saw red. Anger and hatred surged through him and he smashed a fist against the bar of the cell. Glass just laughed. He knew in his current position and without the key to the actual cell there wasn’t much Will could do.

  ‘Laugh now,’ Will said, calming slightly. ‘When we get back to Barbados I will make sure your life as you know it is over.’

  Glass shrugged. ‘You’re welcome to try.’

  He seemed all too confident and untroubled for a man who would at the very least lose his career and could lose his liberty or his life.

  ‘The reality is I’m well connected, with an exemplary military record. The Navy will most likely sweep this under the carpet. I’ll get a rap on the knuckles, a few months’ posting to an undesirable part of the world, then all will be forgotten. It’s not as if she’s anyone of consequence.’

  She was of consequence to Will.

  ‘You’re not the only one with contacts, Glass,’ he warned him. ‘I may not be able to touch you whilst you’re in the Navy, but one day you’ll want to retire and I expect you’ll want to return to your family in England. I can make it so all of society knows what kind of man you are.’

  Some of the colour drained from the Lieutenant’s face. He shook his head in disbelief and tried to put on a good front.

  ‘There are other places to live,’ he said. ‘And after a few years no one is going to be bothered I groped a foreign whore anyway.’

  Will agreed there were other places to live, but the second half of his statement wasn’t quite true. After his career in the Navy he had no doubt Glass planned to return to England a hero and try to bag himself a nice heiress. No society mama worth her salt would allow their precious daughter anywhere near a man with even a whiff of this kind of scandal.

  ‘I would worry about sorting your own sorry mess of a life out rather than ruining mine,’ Glass said.

  ‘My life is fine.’

  ‘Really? What’s the plan, then? You catch Del Torres and return to run your estate with a pirate whore as your mistress? Or you leave her behind, never knowing if you have an illegitimate child on the other side of the world?’

  Will’s eyes glazed over. Glass was right, he did have a decision to make. A decision he hadn’t even known was there. He could take Mia back with him to England. She wouldn’t be society’s idea of an acceptable wife, but what would that matter? They could retire to his estate, hidden from the rest of the world’s cruel jibes, and have a family together.

  The thought of children with Mia made his heart swell. He wanted to populate a nursery with her, have hoards of giggling children with honey-coloured skin and dark, bottomless eyes.

  He didn’t care if he could never show his face in his London club or attend another society ball again. It wouldn’t matter; he would have Mia.

  Suddenly everything became clear. It was as if a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders. He loved Mia. Of course he did. He couldn’t delude himself any longer that the happiness that diffused through his body every time he laid eyes on her was anything other than love. He loved Mia Del Torres and he was going to marry her.

  If she would have him. A momentary stab of panic lanced through his heart. What if she didn’t want him? Then he remembered her declaration of love, undemanding of a vow in return, and knew she wanted him. And if she protested that a marriage between two such different people couldn’t work he was sure he could persuade her. In fact, he thought persuading her might be rather fun. Even if she didn’t want to go and live in England he wouldn’t care. He would hire a man to run the estate and they could spend their days on Caribbean beaches, walking barefoot in the sand and making love on the shoreline.

  He grinned, looking at Glass. ‘Mia won’t be my mistress,’ he said, ‘she’ll be my wife.’

  Will pushed himself away from the bars of the cell and spun on his heel. He heard Glass shouting something after him as he closed the door to the brig, but didn’t bother to pay attention. He was too happy to be brought down by the petty, cruel Lieutenant. He was in love.

  He strode along the corridor and took the wooden steps two at a time, rising out of the darkness of the bowels of the ship to the open air of the deck. With a spring in his step he hurried towards his destination. He needed to see Mia, he couldn’t wait to tell her he loved her. Will could picture the moment; he would sweep her into his arms and declare his love before smothering her with kisses. He would ask her to become his wife, to spend the rest of her life with him and to become the mother of his children.

  ‘Mr Greenacre,’ Captain Little called quietly, stepping into his path.

  Will almost didn’t stop, he was so eager to get to Mia.

  ‘We’ve sighted a ship.’

  He halted suddenly.

  ‘In the exact location you gave us.’

  He knew it was The Flaming Dragon. It had to be.

  ‘How long have we got until dawn?’ Will asked.

  ‘Ninety minutes.’

  He knew their best chance was to sneak up on the pirate ship in the darkness. It would be at its most vulnerable in the hours before dawn. The men assigned night watch would be weary and, if they were lucky, maybe even sleeping. They would probably be able to get pretty close before the alarm was sounded.

  ‘What do you think, Captain?’ Will asked, knowing it was Captain Little’s men he was sending into danger and his ship that was going to take the battering.

  ‘This is the best chance we’ll get. We can be within cannon’s range in forty minutes.’

  ‘Are the men ready to fight?’

  ‘Redding is rousing everyone as we speak. They’ll be at their stations within minutes.’

  Will looked into the distance, straining his eyes to try to make out the outline of the ship they were hunting, even though he knew it would be too far away
to see in the darkness. This was the moment he had been waiting for. He felt the adrenaline surge through his body to prepare him for the fight.

  ‘Gather the crew in the mess room,’ he said. ‘I will speak to them.’

  The Captain nodded in agreement and hustled off to arrange his men.

  Will took a deep breath and steeled himself. He needed to inspire the men. The fight ahead would be a tough one. Del Torres’s crew were renowned throughout the Caribbean as ruthless fighters and he had no doubt they would fight to the death before surrendering their ship.

  He tried to push his thoughts of Mia from his mind. This wasn’t the right time. His declaration of love would have to wait, for now he had to focus on the next few hours and bring her out of this safely. Then he could tell her his feelings and they could make their plans for the future.

  Chapter Twenty

  Mia opened her eyes and stretched. For an instant she couldn’t work out why her muscles were so sore, but then the events of the previous night flooded back to her. She still couldn’t remember exactly what had happened. If she closed her eyes, she could see flashes of activity, but even with these short memories she felt strangely detached from the incident.

  What had occurred later that evening was another matter entirely. She remembered every minute of Will comforting her and holding her. She knew for sure that part had happened.

  Mia reached out a hand and patted the empty spot on the bed beside her. She was disappointed it was cold, Will must have left her some time ago. She wanted nothing more than to snuggle up to him and spend a lazy morning in bed.

  Footsteps in the corridor outside brought her to her senses. They must be approaching dawn, which meant soon they would find out if The Flaming Dragon was where they had anticipated it to be. She felt a coil of dread form in her stomach and suddenly Mia wanted to be anywhere else but here on this ship that was about to attack Jorge.

  More footsteps along the corridor outside and frantic whispering was enough to alert her—something was going on. She pushed herself out of bed and started to straighten her clothes. Her dress looked more like an old rag than the simple but elegant ensemble it had once been. In the past few days she’d been thrown in a cell in it, discarded it on a beach, been attacked in it and now had slept in the battered material.

  She gave up trying to make her dress look presentable and instead focused on her hair. Sometime in the night it had fallen free and now cascaded over her shoulders. Most of the pins had been misplaced during her adventures of the past few days and she knew it was pointless trying to pin it up. Instead she ran her fingers through the loose curls and let it fall over her shoulder. When she was satisfied there was nothing more she could do to look presentable, Mia poked her head out of the cabin. The corridor was deserted, but somewhere in the distance she could hear Will’s voice. It sounded like he was making a speech.

  She followed the sound. It wasn’t hard to do; the rest of the ship was silent and Mia smiled as she could start to make out the words. He was rousing his troops.

  ‘A ship has been sighted,’ Will said, ‘and we believe it is The Flaming Dragon.’

  Mia paused for a second and told herself to breathe. She had known this moment would come. Now it was here she needed all her strength and courage to infuse her so she could survive the next few hours.

  ‘We are approaching the pirate ship as we speak. The darkness is our ally and I am hopeful we will get within cannon range before they even realise we are there.’

  Mia pushed the door of the mess room open and her eyes immediately fixed on Will. He was standing on one of the tables, the crew gathered around him. He looked magnificent.

  ‘They will fight,’ Will warned, ‘and they will fight dirty. If they lose, they die.’

  The assembled men nodded and murmured. Mia couldn’t tear her eyes away from Will.

  ‘We have the advantage,’ Will said. ‘We have surprise. They have no idea we are coming for them.’

  Mia felt a sudden surge of panic. What if Will was injured? He would no doubt be at the forefront of the fighting. He wasn’t the sort of man to command his men from the rear. He would be the first to fire upon The Dragon and the first to board. That meant there was a real chance he could get hurt. She felt a lump form in her throat, making it hard for her to swallow. She couldn’t lose him like this. She’d only just found him.

  ‘We will win. Their luck has finally run out. Fight for all the innocent men and women and children they’ve killed, all the towns they’ve plundered. Fight to stop them taking one of your loved ones away.’

  Will’s eyes met hers and she heard his silent addition. He would be fighting to avenge his brother.

  The men let out muted cheers, all savvy enough to know too much noise could travel to The Flaming Dragon and alert the so-far unsuspecting pirates.

  ‘To your stations, men,’ the Captain commanded. ‘Make me proud.’

  The crew dispersed quickly, each man heading off silently to prepare for the battle ahead. Mia was swept along in the crowd and carried on to the open deck. A few minutes later Will emerged, deep in conversation with Captain Little and Ed Redding.

  He saw her watching him and gave her a half smile. Mia responded with the same and watched as the men planned their strategy. She didn’t know how to feel. So many emotions were vying for her attention. She felt nervous about the battle to come—whatever happened, she would be losing someone she cared about today. She felt scared at the notion of having to face her brother, to see his face fall as he realised his sister had betrayed him. And she felt suddenly lonely, because no matter how the day turned out she would be going back to Barbados to spend whatever remained of her life alone.

  ‘Mia,’ Will said quietly as he came up behind her.

  She spun and couldn’t help but smile. Just being close to him made her happy.

  ‘How are you?’ he asked.

  ‘Scared.’ There was no reason to lie to him.

  ‘I won’t let you get hurt,’ he said.

  ‘It’s not me I’m worried about.’

  He raised a hand and stroked her cheek, then let his fingers tangle in her hair.

  ‘I will try to take your brother alive,’ he said, ‘so he can stand fair trial.’

  Mia nodded. It didn’t matter much. He would be condemned for his crimes at trial and sentenced to hang in front of a jeering crowd. Perhaps it would be kinder for him to die fighting.

  ‘And you?’ she asked.

  He looked puzzled.

  ‘Will you be safe?’

  He looped his free arm around her back and pulled her closer to him.

  ‘I’ll be just fine,’ he promised. ‘I’ve got something to fight for.’

  In full view of the whole crew he dipped his head and kissed her passionately on the lips. Mia recovered from her initial shock and kissed him back, never wanting the embrace to end. There was a small chance this was the last time she would ever kiss him.

  ‘Everyone’s looking,’ Mia murmured as he pulled away.

  ‘I don’t care.’

  Redding hurried over and coughed quietly. ‘Sorry to interrupt, but the Captain wants your advice,’ he said.

  ‘I’ll be right there.’

  Mia felt his arm slip from around her waist and suddenly she felt very alone.

  ‘After this is all over,’ Will said, catching her hand in his, ‘we need to talk about the future.’ Then he planted one last quick kiss on her lips before striding off after Redding.

  The future? Mia felt her head spin at the idea. Surely they had no future, that was the whole point. The way he had said it made a spark of hope flare in her heart. He had kissed her in front of everyone, claimed her as his own. Then he had told her they needed to talk about the future.

  Immediately Mia began to weave a fantasy
in her mind. She saw herself strolling the crowded streets of Bridgetown on Will’s arm, not caring who saw them together. She saw him in her bed night after night and making love to her until she begged for mercy. And she saw a cherubic little boy, with golden hair and tanned skin, climbing up on to Will’s shoulders as the three of them fell about laughing.

  Maybe that was a step too far, but surely she was allowed to dream. She wanted the whole dream, but in reality any little part of it would do. As long as Will remained in her life she would be happy.

  She wondered if she could be satisfied with being his mistress and immediately knew the answer. If that was the only way she could be with him, then of course she could. It would break her heart every time he left her, not knowing if one day he would put her aside, but every day with him would be a gift.

  ‘Perhaps you would like to go below decks now, miss,’ Ed Redding suggested, quietly coming up behind her. ‘We will be within cannon range in five minutes.’

  Mia shook her head. There was no way she was going to hide below decks when they attacked. She was part of this mission and she wouldn’t cower in her cabin as the men she loved fought.

  ‘I’ll stay up on deck,’ she said. ‘If you could just point me to somewhere I won’t be in the way.’

  ‘If you stay up here, I can’t guarantee your safety, miss,’ Redding said, his brow furrowing with concern.

  ‘I know.’ Mia smiled at him.

  He looked at her for a few long moments, then nodded as if he’d made up his mind.

  ‘If you’d follow me, Miss Del Torres.’ He led her up on to the raised platform where the navigation took place. She followed him behind the large wooden ship’s wheel and smiled in encouragement to the young sailor who stood there.

  ‘You should be out of the way here,’ Redding said, ‘but still able to see everything that’s going on.’

  ‘Thank you.’

  He hesitated as if he wanted to say more and after a few seconds lifted her hand to his lips.

  ‘It’s been a pleasure knowing you, Miss Del Torres.’

  Before she could reply he had hurried off below decks, no doubt to supervise the men manning the cannons.